The gallery, formed by a group of local artists and run as a cooperative, has been home to local artists for the past 10 years and is also one of the featured venues for monthly First Friday Artwalks.

The gallery opened in 2006 as The Artist Gallery of Steamboat, and in 2013, it became Circle 7 Fine Art Gallery.

“Twenty-eight individual artists dedicated themselves to the gallery,” Circle 7 Fine Art Gallery board president Abby Jensen said in a prepared statement. “Although successful, the membership had diminished in recent years, and the space became too large for the business model, which led to closure and dismantling of the organization."

Jensen said she was unable to comment further on why the artists have left the gallery space downtown.

"We would like to let everyone know that we are very optimistic about the future and not to worry, because we will have a place to show for people to come and see our work," said Adam Zabel, who will show his work on his website and at the Steamboat Art Museum's Plein Air event in June and a show at Harwigs in December. "We haven't finished finalizing the details but will keep our Circle 7 webste up as well so people can still see things online."

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Over the years, the gallery has featured a variety of traditional contemporary art including two-dimensional works, such as oils, watercolors, acrylics, pastels, photography, fabric, graphite and mono-prints, and also three-dimensional works such as fused glass, jewelry, mineral and bronze sculptures.

"It's all up in the air still, and it's hard to say what will happen right now," said Maggie Smith, one of the artists who will be showing her work on her own website in addition to the Studio Gallery at Copper Ridge.